Background & Aim: According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, sleep is a basic need. The quality of sleep highly affects the recovery of patients in coronary care units. This study was conducted to determine patients’ sleep quality and nurses´ documentations in coronary care units.

Material & Methods: This study was a descriptive- analysis. Participants were selected with convenience sampling. This Study was performed on 155 patients admitted to the coronary care unit in 2015. Nursing documentations were investigated in 3 consecutive nights. The data collection instruments included a demographic and disease information form, the modified Pittsburgh sleep quality index, the daily sleep form and the patients’ quality of sleep checklist in nursing documentations. The daily sleep form completed by participants and other instruments completed by the researcher. The data were analyzed in SPSS 16 software.

Results: Most of the study population had a poor quality of sleep (56.1%) during hospitalization; however, their quality of sleep improved over three nights. There was a significant correlation between daily sleep diary and Pittsburgh sleep quality (P< 0.001). The patients’ quality of sleep checklist in nursing documentations was more accurate in the first night in cases that patients required an intervention; however nursing documentations in cases that did not require any intervention were not carefully recorded by nurses.

Conclusion: Most of the participants in the study had poor quality of sleep on the first night but it was improved over time. However nursing documentations was more accurate in the first night in cases that required an intervention. So nurses in coronary care unit need to receive more training on the importance of patients’ quality of sleep and how to record the sleep quality in nursing documentations.